19 July 2016

Bad Blood? Never!

The world is a truly, truly terrible place right now and I could kind of use a little humor and nonsense to distract myself. If you feel the same way then I have just what you wanted. I present to you ... When Taylor Swift™ Almost* Sued Harper Finch Designs(I denote almost for the sake of deterring future law suits) (Taylor Swift™ No Copyright Infringement Intended)

Let me be clear - I have nothing against Taylor Swift™. Her latest album is pop music done right and she seems to be a truly kind person who I wouldn't mind my niece looking up to. I have no doubt we'd be best friends bonding over our shared loved of crafting, baking and dancing terribly. My only intention for sharing this story is because...well...it's hilariously absurd. There was absolutely no escaping Taylor Swift™'s "Shake it Off™" in the fall/winter of 2014 and I, like many others, did my fair share of bopping to it on repeat. Like I said, Taylor Swift™ does pop music right. It was upbeat, tongue in cheek and incredibly infectious. Around this time I happened to be working on a kit that would be a sort of sequel to my "We are Young" collection. (See below)

While putting the final touches to my would be collection I suddenly thought of how perfectly the lyrics to "Shake it Off™" went along with the "We are Young" and it's follow-up. At the very last moment I decided to add a few of the lyrics to the kit. I had 12 patterned papers and 36 elements finished at this point. In total added 5 "Shake it Off™" elements to the kit: 1 journal card, 1 word bubble and 3 lyrics based word art. Happy with the final results I released it in my Etsy shop in November. The full kit was listed for $6.95 while a separate patterns only option was available for $3.95.

I don't want to use the wrong language or risk any chance that I'll be targeted further so you can read BUZZFEED's articledetailing the experiences of others (which exactly reflect my own experience.) that took place shortly after Christmas, a little over a month after I released the kit in question into my shop. I have no hard feelings about this situation (I still bop to 1989) but it's so spectacularly bizarre that I haven't stopped laughing for the past (roughly) 19 months. Hopefully y'all can get a kick out of it too!

I'm presently re-working the kit in question - erasing all references to Taylor Swift™ (No Copyright Infringement Intended) - and will be sharing it with you all as a FREEBIE over the next few days. YAY!!!

Thanks for being such good sports in letting me share this silly story. If you didn't laugh then at least you're getting a freebie out it, right? Right! Get these patterns below.

1 comment:

Rights are a touchy subject, eh? LOL There is something called "Artistic License", where one can use an artist's/author's material in a different and 'artistic' manner, (think Andy Warhol with his soup cans) but, that area of the law is extremely ambiguous, and hard to decipher! LOL Fortunately, it worked out okay for you in the end. And, fortunately for us, we get the goodies! LOLYa live, ya learn, I suppose. I appreciate your ability to find the humor and to share it.Thank you ever so much!Su